Hong Kong veteran Johnnie To’s new romantic comedy as well as short films directed by Cannes-winning filmmakers from the Philippines and Thailand will open the 35th Hong Kong International Film Festival in March.
Organizers announced Thursday that To’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” will open the event along with “Quattro Hong Kong 2,” an omnibus film comprising four shorts set in Hong Kong that was commissioned by the festival.
The shorts were directed by Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the Philippines’ Brillante Mendoza, Hong Kong’s Stanley Kwan and Malaysia’s Ho Yu-hang.
Apichatpong won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival last year for the drama “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.” Mendoza was named Cannes best director in 2009 for the crime thriller “Kinatay.”
“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” which pairs Chinese actress Gao Yuanyuan with Hong Kong heartthrob Louis Koo and Chinese-American Daniel Wu, is part of To’s recent push into the mainland Chinese market. The veteran director is best known for his stylish action thrillers but is now hoping to reach a broader audience in China with light comedies.
As their contributions to “Quattro Hong Kong 2,” Apichatpong shot the segment “M Hotel” in Hong Kong’s Yau Ma Tei residential and shopping district and Mendoza made “Purple” — a reference to the color of Hong Kong’s official flower, the bauhinia. The Philippine filmmaker shot at Hong Kong’s flower market and the outyling fishing village of Tai O, best known for its houses on stilts.
Malaysian Ho shot the comedy “Open Verdict,” starring veteran Hong Kong actress Wai Ying-hung, while Kwan contributed “13 Minutes in the Lives of …,” which he said is a sentimental look at a Hong Kong bus ride.
“For a filmmaker who is spending more and more time in mainland China these past few years, coming back to Hong Kong is especially emotional. The emotions are complex,” Kwan told The Associated Press.
The Hong Kong festival will also feature a retrospective of Wai’s movies and a master class by Venice-winning Chinese director Jia Zhangke. Organizers will also stage the Asian premiere of “Vampire,” the English debut of Japanese director Shunji Iwai starring Kevin Segers, Rachael Leigh Cook and Keisha Castle-Hughes. Iwai is a music video and TV director-turned-filmmaker who made his name with the 1995 romance “Love Letter.”
The Hong Kong festival, which runs from March 20 to April 5, will feature some 300 movies from 56 countries.
Disney Pledges $15 million In L.A. Fire Aid As More Celebs Learn They’ve Lost Their Homes
The Pacific Palisades wildfires torched the home of "This Is Us" star Milo Ventimiglia, perhaps most poignantly destroying the father-to-be's newly installed crib.
CBS cameras caught the actor walking through his charred house for the first time, standing in what was once his kitchen and looking at a neighborhood in ruin. "Your heart just breaks."
He and his pregnant wife, Jarah Mariano, evacuated Tuesday with their dog and they watched on security cameras as the flames ripped through the house, destroying everything, including a new crib.
"There's a kind of shock moment where you're going, 'Oh, this is real. This is happening.' What good is it to continue watching?' And then at a certain point we just turned it off, like 'What good is it to continue watching?'"
Firefighters sought to make gains Friday during a respite in the heavy winds that fanned the flames as numerous groups pledged aid to help victims and rebuild, including a $15 million donation pledge from the Walt Disney Co.
More stars learn their homes are gone
While seeing the remains of his home, Ventimiglia was struck by a connection to his "This Is Us" character, Jack Pearson, who died after inhaling smoke in a house fire. "It's not lost on me life imitating art."
Mandy Moore, who played Ventimiglia's wife on "This Is Us," nearly lost her home in the Eaton fire, which scorched large areas of the Altadena neighborhood. She said Thursday that part of her house is standing but is unlivable, and her husband lost his music studio and all his instruments.
Mel Gibson's home is "completely gone," his publicist Alan Nierob confirmed Friday. The Oscar winner revealed the loss of his home earlier Friday while appearing on Joe Rogan's... Read More